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Yet another study has debunked the notion that vaccines cause autism. Late last month, a committee of 18 highly respected doctors, professors, legal experts and epidemiologists empanelled by the Institute of Medicine (IOM) reviewed more than 1,000 peer-reviewed studies and articles and found "no links between immunization and . . . autism."

As the chairwoman of the panel, Dr. Ellen Wright Clayton, put it, "The MMR [Measles-Mumps-Rubella] vaccine doesn’t cause autism, and the evidence is overwhelming that it doesn't."

But for some reason, parents are increasingly skipping or delaying shots for their children. Government officials everywhere from New York to Idaho have reported that refusals to immunize are becoming more common.

This trend is deeply disturbing. Simply put, vaccines save lives. By failing to inoculate their kids, parents are allowing junk science to put the health of their children -- as well as the health of those around them -- at risk.

Unfortunately, the mythical link between vaccines and autism has proved remarkably resilient. And it's all because of one measly 1998 study from British doctor Andrew Wakefield. Wakefield claimed that the MMR vaccine caused autism in the 12 cases he studied.*

In the 13 years since, Wakefield has been discredited over and over. He's been stripped of his license to practice medicine for making up the facts at the core of his study. And myriad organizations -- including The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the American Academy of Pediatrics, the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia’s Vaccine Education Center, the National Academy of Sciences, and the Food and Drug Administration -- have concluded that there's no evidence linking vaccination and autism.

But no amount of proof seems to be able to put the myth to rest. "I think this report says that the science is inadequate," said Sallie Bernard, the head of a group that contends that vaccines and autism are linked.

Another self-described autism advocate wrote of this most recent IOM review, "I myself feel bludgeoned by reports of the definitive safety of vaccines. Trouble is, the more they say it, the less I believe it."